7-, 9-Sided Polygons

Date: 9/13/96 at 16:2:31
From: Dee Sypherd
Subject: 7, 9 Sided Polygons
Dear Dr. Math,
What is the name of a 7-sided figure? What is the name of a 9-sided
figure? Is one of these ever called a septagon?
Thank you,
Mrs. Sypherd's 4th - 6th grade class
Ayr Public School
Ayr, NE

Date: 9/16/96 at 14:6:4
From: Doctor Tom
Subject: Re: 7, 9 Sided Polygons
And "Oct"ober means 8 and "Nov"ember 9 and "Dec"ember 10. There used
to be only 10 months, but 2 were added later. But rather than change
the names, the two months were simply stuffed in. I've forgotten
the exact history of this, but I remember reading a great description
of this by Isaac Asimov in one of his books. The history of the
calendar is fascinating.
The main problem was a desire to synchronize "months" with the
moon's motion, and that actually has little to do with the motion
of the earth around the sun.
-Doctor Tom, The Math Forum
Check out our web site! http://mathforum.org/dr.math/